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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Mar 29, 2009 - 12:55pm PT
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And while we are at it, here is my rurp collection. The top row is all ugly Longware units. They were heat-treated really high, hard as hell and hideous, clumsy little things. Some are bugaboo-style, some vertical style. The row below is all Yvon's semi-useless rurps that ended up more as jewelry, truth be told. And the bottom one is a rare CMI!
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Scott Cole
Trad climber
Jackson, WY^
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Mar 29, 2009 - 01:32pm PT
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The best thing about the CMIs' was always the different sizes and tapers. They were enough different than the Chouinards that they sometimes stuck where the others wouldn't, somewhat like sawed-off angles. Good to have a few on the rack, but they always screwed up racking because the were opposites. I have about 50 of them left.
Scole
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Mar 29, 2009 - 01:49pm PT
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Nice assortment of tacks, Peter!
I wouldn't be so quick to diss the RURP though! The main reason that so many ended up on keychains is testimony to the Ultimate Reality which most everybody studiously avoided Realizing! LOL
The RURPS were hand finished for many years so that 4 or 5 different thicknesses could be employed. When dealing with straight-in bottoming seams, they are still the ticket,IMO.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 29, 2009 - 03:21pm PT
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I'd still happily buy any CMI pitons / rurps folks want to part with...
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Double D
climber
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Mar 29, 2009 - 05:20pm PT
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PH..."Yvon's semi-useless rurps that ended up more as jewelry"
I dunno, I thought they were kinda bitchen myself.
(-;
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Mar 29, 2009 - 06:09pm PT
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Can I have that Ultimate Reality Super Sized please? LOL
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Rokrover
Trad climber
SB, CA
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Jun 25, 2009 - 06:44pm PT
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This fine CMI hammer was bought in Australia nearly forty years ago and saw little use after we soon embraced clean climbing. Later it was shamefully relegated to pounding stubborn mechanical assemblies apart on a variety of vintage vehicles. The blue elastomer handle became hard and slick some time ago so was taped over. There is no identifying number stamped anywhere I can see.
Sorry about the image - the host changed the address
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jun 25, 2009 - 06:54pm PT
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I am not getting an image Rokrover
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hoipolloi
climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
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Jun 25, 2009 - 07:52pm PT
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i have one or two of these (from my Dads gear)
is this one? can't remember, dont want to dig it up...
this is it here off center to the right. (edit, maybe not, nevermind)
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2009 - 09:34am PT
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Yep, that one on the top is a CMI. Nice.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 26, 2009 - 10:37am PT
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CMI's are easy to spot because they are right-handed while Chouinards are left-handed. The two or three thinest sizes are very desirable if you find yourself on delicate technical expanding flakes. Eye contact to prevent rotation without overdriving is much easier if you can deal with fragile flakes that face either direction.
Chouinard blades are good for left-facing, left-angling shingles while CMI's make right-facing crispies far easier to deal with. The CMI's are also far stiffer than the modern Chouinard KB's since I think that they used chrome nickel instead of chrome molybdenum steel. The older Chouinard knifeblades (no lightening hole) were rolled to form the taper and consequently had some forged and drawn character which made them stiffer than the punched and ground modern equivalent.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Scott Cole wrote:
> Good to have a few on the rack, but they always screwed up racking because the were opposites.
Steve Grossman wrote:
> CMI's are easy to spot because they are right-handed while Chouinards are left-handed.
Usually the CMI eye is opposite the Chouinard, but not always.
The only specimen I have seen where they are on the same side is the piton Joseph posted to start this thread!
I wonder if this was an early or late model - maybe they decided to become more compatible with Chouinard?
Or maybe a fluke, if they bent the eye on the blank in the opposite way.
The logo also seems to run on the long blade axis on most examples, but it is on the short axis in this specimen.
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BooDawg
Social climber
Polynesian Paralysis
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Peter, in your first posting on 3/29/09 you show two pix of bugaboo style pins. I think the top one in each of those pix is a Chouinard flame-cut Bugaboo. It's the square head and texture of the edge of the eye that lead me to that conclusion. I have several of them that I've post a pic of here:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1104287/Help-with-vintage-pitons
Mine have a Diamond C near the eye on the inside of the blade which might be visible in your lower pic except that the shadow obscures the face of the blade near the eye. Your pin seems to have a Diamond with NO visible C on the OUTSIDE of the bend in the upper pic. Is that a Diamond there?
In your second posting on 3/29/09, your Chouinard RURPS are what I'll call "3rd Generation" but may in fact be 4th or 5th. In one of my pix on the thread linked above there are two RURPs in the upper right corner which I've called "Old" and "New." The Old ones had only a single hole and were very tough. The "New" ones were a tad smaller but were nearly as tough. The ones in your pic were a later model, I believe (I have some of those too.), but they lacked the toughness of the earlier ones and performed much worse that the earlier ones as well, IMHO.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Thanks Boo. Yeah, that is what I was really meaning about the Chouinard rurps I have. Mine are way-derivative---steps away from the practical process of driving the living crap out of a RURP into a seam whereas the older longware and CMI ones still have the brutish nature to achieve real placements over and over again. I like your older Chouinard rurps more; you know you can refine something to the point where it is really pretty but won't put out, so to speak.
I missed your link thread when it was fresh in March. Pilgrims, it has become clear someone has to do a book on our hardware history. Stephane or that guy down in Arizona should.
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SGropp
Mountain climber
Eastsound, Wa
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I believe one of the early partners at CMI is Greg Blomberg, who lives the next island over from me. The last time I saw him he had a brand new CMI hammer still in the bag as well as an early CMI metal handled ice axe.
After leading the first winter ascent of Denali in 1967 [ retold in ''Minus 148*'' by Art Davidson ] I think he pretty much gave up climbing and moved to one of the San Juan Islands. He went on to form a company called Kestrel Tool ,making absolute top quality carving tools in the Northwest Native tradition.
The only time I saw a CMI hammer in use was in a local saw shop, being used to set the teeth in circular saw blades.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Oct 10, 2010 - 03:12pm PT
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Well Steve, as you can see from my photos of the hammers, that CMI hammer got the crap used out of it.
Pilgrims, here are some Peck pitons. I think they are rare now. I didn't like them for Yosemite granite and that is why I still have some around a half dozen of them in nearly perfect condition. I bought them from Royal's operation bitd, along with those hideous Peck crackers--- knurled cylindrical nuts, of which I have plenty still also.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Oct 10, 2010 - 04:39pm PT
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> I believe one of the early partners at CMI is Greg Blomberg
Yes, he is mentioned on p.35 of Basic Rockcraft: "Greg Blomberg (CMI)"
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ec
climber
ca
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Oct 10, 2010 - 04:49pm PT
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Those shallow Peck angles are like the SMC ones. When filed to a greater taper they are actually useful in funky stone...just sayin'
 ec
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Oct 11, 2010 - 12:16am PT
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What's the word on this one?
No other markings other than CMI in the same location as the one posted above.
Well used and totally rude.
seems to me this one predates the one with the biner hole?
Mucci
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 11, 2010 - 12:09pm PT
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The Peck pitons that Peter posted above have the curious distintion of being made out of stainless steel! I don't know of any other commercially released stainless pins.
CMI had as many as three hammers on the market at one time. Rich Gottlieb has an amazing CMI display board at Rock and Snow in New Paltz that shows all three as well as the first all metal ice axe available in custom lengths. Terrible design functionally but impeccable craftsmanship!
I haven't seen CMI switch sides on the eye orientation nearly as often as Chouinard/BD. Not sure that I have ever seen a matched pair of CMI blades. I'll check my stash!
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